Mali: Grave Abuses Amid Renewed Fighting
Click to expand Image A column of black smoke rises above buildings in Bamako on April 26, 2026. © 2026 AFP via Getty Images (Nairobi) – Islamist armed groups and Malian armed forces and their allies have committed serious abuses against civilians since fighting escalated in Mali in April 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 25, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM) carried out coordinated attacks across Mali. JNIM joined forces with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front (Front de libération de l’Azawad, or FLA), who are seeking to overthrow the military junta led by Gen. Assimi Goïta and backed by Russian fighters from Africa Corps (formerly the Wagner Group). All parties have unlawfully attacked civilians and some parties destroyed and looted their homes and shops. On April 28, JNIM announced a “total siege” of the capital, Bamako, threatened to kill civilians obstructing its operations, and attacked civilian vehicles. Malian armed forces responded with apparent reprisals against Fulani communities and two apparent airstrikes killing civilians. “As fighting flares up again, the warring parties in Mali are once again carrying out grave abuses against civilians, repeating former patterns of harming civilians,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “All parties are obligated to respect international humanitarian law, take all feasible steps to avoid civilian harm, and facilitate access to humanitarian aid.” Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 34 people between April 26 and June 9, including 30 witnesses to abuses, as well as civil society members, community leaders, and journalists. Human Rights Watch also verified and geolocated four videos posted online and six photographs and analyzed satellite imagery showing destroyed shelters. Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Mali’s justice minister on June 11 but received no response. On April 25, clashes between JNIM and allied FLA fighters against Malian and Africa Corps forces in the northern cities of Gao and Kidal killed 13 civilians and wounded at least 25. Between May 6 and 21, JNIM fighters burned more than 40 civilian vehicles bound for Bamako, accusing passengers of violating the siege of the capital, and publicly executed a man in the northern town of Tonka. Between May 14 and 17, the military also conducted abusive counterinsurgency operations against Fulani communities in central Mali, killing 38 civilians, including 23 children. Mali’s military carried out two apparent drone strikes in the central villages of Guimbé on April 25, which killed 12 children and teenagers, and Tené on May 17, which killed 10 men and women. Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights Watch A 38-year-old man in Kidal said he heard gunfire early on April 25 which escalated into heavy fighting as JNIM and FLA fighters entered the town, attacked the military base, and looted the town market, while Malian and Africa Corps forces returned fire. “I was struck by bullets in the right shoulder and left thigh,” he said. “I don’t know who shot me because gunshots were coming from all directions, but I know soldiers evacuated me to the Gao hospital by helicopter.” On May 14, the FLA spokesman, Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadane, told Human Rights Watch: “We took sufficient measures so that civilians are not collateral victims of the fighting. We wrote several times to communities located around the city [of Kidal] to tell them to leave and not to approach military sites.” On the night of May 17, an explosive munition, apparently dropped from a drone believed to have been operated by the military, killed at least 10 civilians in Tené village, as residents gathered for a traditional wedding. The groom, who had gone with others to collect his bride and the wedding food, was among those killed. “I heard a noise coming from the sky and then an explosion and then there were screams everywhere,” said a 45-year-old man. “We rushed there and found that the damages were enormous, with dead and injured people.” Human Rights Watch has previously documented how Malian military forces have conducteddrone attacks that caused civilian casualties. On May 9, 10 days after JNIM announced the start of the siege of Bamako, JNIM fighters burned at least 40 civilian vehicles in the village of Zambougou, about 60 kilometers from the capital. A 43-year-old bus passenger said: “A jihadist said: ‘Didn’t we warn you that Bamako is under siege? Get out!’ Then they set the buses on fire.” There were no military forces in the vicinity and none of the vehicles carried weapons or military equipment. Since September 2025, JNIM has cut off fuel supplies into Mali, blocking and attacking tanker truck convoys from neighboring countries and killing truck drivers, triggering severe shortages that have halted transport, disrupted education and electricity, and paralyzed daily life in Bamako and elsewhere. While the laws of war do not prohibit sieges, warring parties must take all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians and comply with the principles of distinction and proportionality. Siege tactics that prevent civilians getting access to items essential for their survival are prohibited. In a June 15 reply to Human Rights Watch, JNIM said civilians “violating some of the rules of order enforced by JNIM in its areas of controls or on the siege ... are deterred proportionately to their violation as per the Sharia [Islamic law] rulings regarding offenders – leniently in some cases and strictly in others.” All parties to Mali’s armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war. Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians or civilian property are prohibited. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent or are responsible as a matter of command responsibility may be prosecuted for war crimes. Mali’s international partners, including the United Nations and the African Union, should work closely with the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali and Mali’s National Human Rights Commission to document serious human rights abuses by all sides and press authorities to investigate those responsible. “Longstanding impunity continues to fuel the cycle of abuses against civilians in Mali,” Allegrozzi said. “The UN and the AU should support independent accountability efforts, including a fact-finding mission that can lay the groundwork for criminal investigations and prosecutions.” For additional details about Mali’s armed conflict and the recent attacks, please see below. Mali’s Armed Conflict Since 2012, successive governments in Mali have battled Islamist and separatist armed groups. In 2024, JNIM, an Al-Qaeda-linked coalition seeking to expand Islamist rule across the Sahel, and the FLA, a Tuareg separatist coalition seeking independence for northern Mali, entered into an alliance despite their ideological differences, and joined forces during the April 2026 offensive. Their cooperation includes, among others, weapons transfers, training, and intelligence sharing. After coups in 2020 and 2021, Gen. Assimi Goïta expelled French and UN forces, strengthened ties with Russia, and ended a nine-year-old peace agreement with predominantly Tuareg armed groups. Since 2021, the junta has relied on the Russia-linked Wagner Group, later rebranded Africa Corps, under the direct control of the Russian defense minister and created after the Wagner Group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in 2023. Human Rights Watch has extensively documented widespread abuses by JNIM, Malian forces, and allied Russian fighters and ethnic militias. Victims of serious abuse have little, if any, access to justice. The military authorities have failed to hold those responsible for grave violations accountable, fostering impunity and emboldening abusive commanders. Mali’s withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States’ regional bloc in January 2025 and its announced exit from the International Criminal Court in September 2025 further weakened access to justice. Recent Fighting On April 25, 2026, JNIM launched coordinated attacks across Mali. In Kati, north of Bamako, fighters carried out a car bombing that killed Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Camara. JNIM attacked the central towns of Mopti and Sévaré and, alongside FLA forces, the northern cities of Kidal and Gao. During fighting against Malian forces in Kidal, JNIM and FLA fighters looted the market. In Gao, two cars exploded near a camp for internally displaced persons, killing six civilians, wounding six others, and destroying at least ten homes. “The shelters [in the displaced persons camp] ... were destroyed,” said a 50-year-old man. “I was the first at the scene.... [W]e evacuated the injured to the Gao regional hospital and buried the dead at the Gao cemetery around 4 p.m.... The victims were hit ... by the debris from one of the vehicles.” A 43-year-old man caught up in the fighting in Gao said he went outside to help those trapped inside the homes destroyed by an apparent car bomb set by JNIM fighters, but “soldiers posted on the other side of the street opened fire.” He said: “I don’t know if they fired at me or at the rebels, but I still got hit by three bullets in my ankles.” Another man, 43, said soldiers killed his teenage son in Gao: “I am shocked by the perpetrators of this attack, but also by the Malian army, which does not distinguish between civilians and soldiers.” He added: “When the attackers were driven back, the army remained in the streets ... shooting at anything that moved.... At about 10 a.m., ... my son ran outside[and] soldiers shot him. He was hit in the back ... he passed away around 2 p.m. Two days later, Russian fighters withdrew from Kidal after reaching a deal with JNIM and the FLA, leaving the town under insurgent control. About 200 Malian soldiers were left behind in Kidal and taken prisoner. JNIM and FLA also captured the northern towns of Tessalit and Tessit. In Bamako, JNIM attacked a military airbase near the international airport and attempted to advance toward the presidential palace, but Malian forces and Russian fighters repelled the attack. In its June 15 reply to Human Rights Watch, JNIM said: “There can be no war without cost.... [Peace] can only be achieved after long attrition, pains and tragedies of which befall all members of society, from all segments and affiliations, whether civilian or military.” JNIM Abuses Attacks on Civilian Vehicles Zambougou, Ségou Region, May 9 Witnesses said that on May 9, JNIM burned at least 40 civilian vehicles, including cars, buses, and trucks, in the village of Zambougou. “They ordered us to get off and said we should continue on foot because they had decreed an embargo on Bamako,” said a 45-year-old man who had been traveling to Bamako. “Once they set the buses on fire, the air was unbreathable.... Some had tried to take out some luggage, but in vain ... the flames had spread.” A 45-year-old woman said her car followed military forces heading to Zambougou to rescue passengers whose vehicles had been burned. “I counted at least 35 vehicles burned, mostly buses,” she said. “A tractor-trailer carrying sheep caught my attention: the animals were burning inside.” Human Rights Watch geolocated a series of four videos shared online to Zambougou, in which at least 16 burning or burned buses and trucks can be seen. Koumantou, Sikasso Region, May 9 Two passengers traveling to Bamako on separate buses said that at about 11 a.m., JNIM fighters stopped three buses shortly after they left Koumantou on their way to Bamako, about 240 kilometers away. The fighters ordered all passengers and drivers out, then set the buses on fire. “They told us that the siege [on Bamako] had been enforced, but as we continued to take the road, what happened to us was ... our responsibility,” a 53-year-old man said. “They burned our bus but didn’t harm anyone.” Public Execution Tonka, Timbuktu Region, May 21 On May 21, at about 7:30 p.m., two JNIM fighters abducted Abdoul Salam Maïga, a 48-year-old ethnic Songhoy Quranic teacher, while he was speaking with friends near Tonka’s market. About one hour later, they brought him back blindfolded to the central square and executed him in front of terrified residents. “We recovered his body at about 11 p.m. at the public square, one bullet in the head,” a 45-year-old man said. “Those who were forced to watch told me the jihadists returned on five motorcycles with Abdoul Salam [Maïga] and took him to the square reserved for public festivities and shot him.” “Maïga had denounced the deviant practices of the jihadists, which go against Islam,” a friend of the dead teacher said. “That’s why they killed him.” Other residents believe Maïga’s killing may be linked to longstanding tensions between Songhoy and Bella communities in Tonka. Songhoy people are widely regarded as the founders of the town, while Bella, a subgroup of the Tuareg people, have historically been viewed as descendants of enslaved communities in the area. As Islamist armed groups gained power and weapons in the area, they also recruited heavily among Bella communities, causing power dynamics to shift, which residents say may have contributed to the killing of the Songhoy teacher. In November 2025, in Tonka, JNIM fighters had abducted and later publicly executed Mariam Cissé, a Songhoy social media influencer, accusing her of collaborating with the Malian army. Malian Army Abuses Sarkala Werè, Ségou Region, May 14 On May 14, at about 9 a.m., dozens of Malian soldiers in at least 10 pickup trucks, accompanied by Dozo militiamen on about 20 motorbikes, entered Sarkala Werè village and fired on civilians trying to flee or hide. They killed at least 31 Fulani civilians, including 23 children, 13 of them under age 10, and one woman, burned homes, and looted up to 700 animals. Two survivors said that while JNIM operates around Sarkala Werè, no JNIM fighters were in the village before or during the attack, which they believe targeted residents solely because they were Fulani. The attack displaced the entire community. Islamist armed groups, including JNIM, have long recruited from Fulani communities in the area. Malian authorities and allied ethnic militias have repeatedly equated Fulani civilians with Islamist fighters to justify killings and other serious abuses. The Dozo, or “traditional hunting societies,” made up largely of ethnic Bambara, have operated as self-defense militias in the Ségou and Mopti regions since 2014. Human Rights Watch has documented repeated abuses by Dozo members against Fulani civilians, as well as cases in which Dozo and other militias acted as proxies of the Mali armed forces. Witnesses said the soldiers and militia arrived from the direction of Dougabougou, about 15 kilometers north of Sarkala Werè, and split into two groups, with one positioning itself in a nearby forest. Residents said Fulani civilians routinely flee into the forest when the army approaches because of repeated abuses against their community. They believed the soldiers anticipated their escape routes and coordinated the attack accordingly. A 65-year-old man identified the Dozo by their traditional clothes “with a horned hat and gris-gris [amulets].” He said: The Dozo and the soldiers just opened fire.... I ran away and dodged the bullets. They chased us – men, women, and children. We all started running toward the forest.... When we arrived, the soldiers hiding there started shooting at us ... one by one, at point-blank range. A man, 36, said the attackers “chased us like hunters pursuing guinea fowls in the bush.” He said he saw soldiers shoot his son before escaping into the forest, where he hid until returning around 5 p.m. to find the village “in total desolation”: My only boy had been shot in the stomach.... I found his body lying ... just 200 meters in front of the house.... We waited until nightfall to start recovering the bodies in the village and its surroundings. We first recovered 24 bodies, all children, except for one woman.... The next morning, we searched for other bodies in the forest. We ended up discovering seven of them, all men.... So, we put all the children in a mass grave and the men in another mass grave and the woman was buried alone next to the children. Human Rights Watch reviewed a video purportedly showing the bodies of victims of Sarkala Werè which was filmed on the night of May 14. The video, lit by flashlight, shows at least 14 bodies, most likely all male, wearing civilian clothing. At least one child can be seen. Human Rights Watch could not verify the date or the location of this video. Witnesses also said the military and the militia burned at least 10 straw huts and looted livestock. Satellite imagery from May 20 that Human Rights Watch analyzed shows at least 25 burned straw huts in the village. Click to expand Image Satellite imagery from May 20, 2026, shows at least 25 burned straw huts in Sarkala Werè, Ségou region, Mali. Image © 2026 Planet Labs PBC. Graphic © 2026 Human Rights Watch. A Malian human rights organization and international media also reported the incident. The Malian army’s chief of staff has not commented on any operations in the area. Human Rights Watch received a list compiled by residents with the names of the 31 victims, including 23 children, ages 2 to 16, 7 men, ages 35 to 76, and a 40-year-old woman. Guirowel, Mopti Region, May 17 On May 17, at about 6 a.m., Malian soldiers arrived in at least 4 pickup trucks and about 100 motorbikes and surrounded Guirowel, a Fulani village in a JNIM-controlled area. The soldiers came from the direction of Sévaré, 15 kilometers south of Guirowel. They opened fire on residents outside their homes, killing seven men and causing all the residents to flee. Two witnesses said some soldiers tried to stop the shooting, but others continued to fire. After the killings, soldiers rounded up about 10 men but released them and left the village by 9 a.m. A 50-year-old man whose brother was summarily killed by soldiers said: I heard the soldiers shouting to each other, in Bambara: “Stop shooting! Just take them!” Unfortunately, the damage was already done.... When soldiers on the four pickup trucks went further into the village, the orders changed and they started rounding us up, before changing their minds again and letting us go.... My brother came out [of the house] and ... was shot in front of my eyes. Another man, 45, said he saw soldiers fatally shoot his 28-year-old brother in the abdomen “just outside his home.” He said that when the military left, “we recovered the bodies and transported them to the cemetery [and] carried out the burial of each victim around 4 p.m.” He added that before leaving, the soldiers “warned us: ‘For today, it’s not much. The next time we come back and find you here, we’ll kill everyone.’” Human Rights Watch reviewed a list compiled by residents with the names of the seven victims, all Fulani men, ages 28 to 47. Human Rights Watch also reviewed two photographs showing the bodies of two men, provided by their families. Two witnesses said the military had raided Guirowel twice before the May 17 attack, including on May 3, when they burned the home of a man they accused of having ties with JNIM, and on May 10, when they searched homes. Villagers said they had raised concerns about the military’s conduct with local military authorities, who reassured them that the military was there to protect civilians. Apparent Military Drone Strikes Mali has acquired and used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones since 2022. Guimbé, Mopti Region, April 25 On the evening of April 25, an explosive munition, apparently dropped from a military drone, hit a group of JNIM fighters and civilians by the Bani riverbank in Guimbé village, four kilometers south of Mopti town, killing at least 12 children and teenagers and several fighters. Four witnesses said that JNIM fighters were active across Mopti that day, briefly occupying government offices and attacking a bank, and that at the time of the strike “a column of jihadists” crossed the river “in a disordered way.” A 49-year-old man whose 18-year-old son was killed in the strike said: All five children who were around the motorbike died ... there were also small children bathing. The fragments hit them. We found some children dead in the water. Some were cut off, their bodies shredded. As for [the] five children who were washing the motorbike, we only recognized them by their heads, feet, and shoes. As for the small children, some were hit in the abdomen, others in the head. A man, 45, said he heard a whistle and then a loud explosion: “Women started crying and the news spread rapidly.... We found 12 children dead on the spot, including my 8-year-old child ... [who] was still breathing a little. But when I took him in my arms, he passed away.” Another man said: In the evening, we couldn’t bury the dead because the drone had come back to fly over the village, so out of fear, the village chief ordered everyone to go home. The next day, we buried all the bodies north of the village, not far from the river. Not all in the same mass grave. The shredded bodies, collected in wheelbarrows, were buried together in one mass grave. The others, the whole bodies, each in his own grave. Human Rights Watch reviewed a list compiled by witnesses with the names of the 12 victims, all males ages 8 to 18. Tené, San Region, May 17 At about 9 p.m. on May 17, an explosive munition, apparently dropped from a drone believed to have been operated by the military, hit a courtyard in the small town of Tené, where people had gathered for a community wedding celebration, killing 10 civilians and wounding 10 others. Among those killed was the groom, who had traveled by motorbike to the bride’s home. JNIM operates around Tené, but three witnesses said there were no Islamist fighters or any other armed men at the wedding. Informed sources said that around the time of the attack, a group of JNIM fighters was heading toward Tené on motorbikes, reportedly with their lights off. The witnesses said a gray drone, shaped like a small plane, had been flying over Tené since 6 p.m. “The drone was flying high in the sky,” a 50-year-old man said. “I heard something like a buzzing and then the explosion, which came from where the livestock market is.” A 45-year-old man who rushed to the site said he found “young men and women dead, their bodies torn apart, heads broken, bellies cut open, and seriously injured people who were screaming.” He added that “animals were also killed and at least 10 motorcycles burned.” “The following day we carried out the burial,” a 34-year-old man said. “We dug 10 graves at the cemetery and we prayed for them.” Human Rights Watch geolocated the location of the strike based on witness accounts and a series of six photographs published by a local news outlet showing two damaged houses, a destroyed wall, and two burned motorbikes in a residential courtyard. Human Rights Watch reviewed a list compiled by residents of 10 people killed: 6 women, ages 18 to 34, and 4 men, ages 18 to 23. Click to expand Image Location of the apparent May 17, 2026, drone strike in Tené, San region, Mali. Image © 2026 Airbus. Google Earth. Graphic © 2026 Human Rights Watch.
2026-06-29 02:00:00
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